Lewis Hamilton tables radio complaints during Max Verstappen battle at Monaco Grand Prix
LEWIS HAMILTON complained over the team radio about his tyres during a Monaco Grand Prix battle with Max Verstappen.
Hamilton defended his pole position from the off but Charles Leclerc’s error early on opened up the field.
The Ferrari driver clipped the barrier while fighting Romain Grosjean for 12th place.
A safety car was introduced and the majority of teams chose to pit and returned to the race on hard tyres with rain forecast.
However, Mercedes released Hamilton on the medium tyres and Verstappen closed the gap to half a second.
The Brit was then worried about wether he would get to the end of the race on a one-stop strategy.
Hamilton questioned if he was on the wrong tyre choice midway through the race.
But his race engineer reassured him that Grosjean was getting 39 laps out of his softer tyres, which are less durable.
Hamilton than complained: "The left front's opening up.”
As time went on, Hamilton’s tyres started to clear up but he was sweating from the pressure of Verstappen.
If the five-time world champion is made to pit then the race will play straight into Sebastian Vettel’s hands.
Verstappen has a five-second penalty for colliding with Valtteri Bottas in the pit lane, meaning he will surrender his place to the German.
On the 50th lap, Hamilton said: “I think I’m in big trouble guys, my front-left is dead.”
But his team issued a stern response that they will not be pitting.
Hamilton continued to fumed later in the race.
With 20 laps remaining he said: "We need a miracle here."